M-ettes attend college game

The Malta M-ettes had a relatively short week that netted them a loss to the North Country Mavericks, but the team utilized their night off on Saturday, September 30, to bond.

The team went to watch the Montana State University Northern Skylights in Havre. M-ette Co-Coach Tasha Hines shared the team's reasoning for the trip.

"It has kind of turned into an annual thing," Coach Hines said. "We usually go and then eat dinner or go bowling. It's just another way for our team to bond. It seems when you get towards the middle of the season, you need time to do that. You just hit a midseason slump."

In the team's loss to North Country, Ella Schye had 11 digs and four blocks. Sam Mitchell had 14 digs, 12 assists and six aces. The scores were 25-22, 25-22, 25-14 and 25-18.

"We came into this knowing that we had to be pretty proactive on the net and aggressive and there was definitely room for improvement," Coach Hines said. "We were struggling to transition our defense. It is harder to get a dig if you are not in the position you need to be."

Malta had a total of 51 digs, 28 kills, 24 assists, 17 aces and five blocks.

"Our serves were great tonight," Coach Hines said, noting the team had hittable serves 91 percent of the time. "Serve-receive was decent but it definitely had room for improvement. Our attack percentage is what hurt us. We had 28 kills and 27 errors for the whole game. That leaves a mark."

North Country was led by senior Jada Sudbrack who had eight kills and Mickayla Johnson who had eight blocks. Their effort was noticed by Malta's coach.

"Mickayla and Jada both had a great night," Coach Hines said. "And they did well."

The M-ettes will have their hands full this week as they take on three opponents. Malta will square off against Harlem in Harlem on Thursday, October 5, at 3:30 p.m. They will then host Wolf Point on Saturday, October 7, at 1 p.m. They will also host Chinook on Tuesday, October 10, at 4:30 p.m.